The other day I went into the effects of mass incarceration that are rarely discussed or addressed in the Black community. We can no longer expect the larger society to address the problems in our community. To state it as plain as possible, these people don't give a damn about us. Don't let the selection of Mr. Obama confuse you, he is an enemy to Afrikan people. That is a statement that I will expound on at a later date. The point of this post is to continue looking at the unseen problems that mass incarceration has caused in the Black community. I state has caused because the problem began when I was a child & now we are seeing a myriad of negative effects. As I previously stated, it is now a multi-generational problem.
One of the things that occurs when you remove a significant amount of men from a nation is that the women's view of the importance of manhood gets distorted. As more women have grown up without fathers, their feelings about men are shaped though the lens of that experience. The person who should be the first man that she meets essentially abandons her. This sets in motion all types of psychological & emotional reactions that most people will never realize. This fatherly absence is, of course, not limited to women. The greater effect has been on Black boys. A large percentage of Black boys never get to see an example of positive Black manhood. They see manhood through the lens of popular media, like music & movies. These media are totally controlled by the enemies of Black people. They present a view of manhood which is completely against traditional Afrikan ideals. The last two generations of Black males have learned to be predators of Black Women as opposed to being protectors of Black Women.
Mass incarceration & the Drug War on Afrikans have helped to tear the foundation of Black people here in America, the family. Afrikan culture is family-centric unlike European culture. When I say family, I don't mean the definition that has been the American ideal that includes a couple, a child or two & a dog. The Afrikan conception of family includes granparents, uncles, cousins, great aunts & people that have known the family for years & they just get included after a while. In an Afrikan family, you can find yourself virtually adopted by your best friend's family if your not careful. This connectedness has been strained with the absence of large numbers of men. These men often have trouble reconnecting with family & never overcome their experiences in jail. They can become living ghosts.
Another aspect is the economic impact. Large numbers of people are working in jail for slave wages, while their families are struggling. Unemployment in general society is about 7.5% in the general society. In prisons it is absolutely 0%. Every person in jail has a job, just like during Afrikan Enslavement. How much money is missing from our communities when able bodied Black men are working for corporations at slave wages in a prison ? How much more productive could they be if they were able to do those same jobs outside of prison walls ? Privately owned prisons charge prisoners excessive amounts of money for phone privileges. This money comes out of the pockets of their friends & families because they can't earn enough money to even be able to call home. Many incarcerated individuals will tell U that those phone calls are often the only things between them remaining sane & total despair.
To be totally honest, the phenomenon of mass incarceration is simply an instrument of war against Afrikan people here in America. The outcomes are not only known by the ruling elite of this country, but are the outcomes which they desire. The number of babies who aren't born because large numbers of Black Men spend their reproductive years incarcerated is problably as many as 1 or 2 million. Add to that the number of men coming out of these facilities with HIV, and you have an excellent tool to decrease the Black population in America. The simple reality is that mass incarceration is a tool of slow genocide.
ABIBIFAHODIE'
huffingtonpost.com/robert-koehler/a-broken-system-perpetuat_b_3397862.html
thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/11/16/370173/private-prison-five-dollar-per-minute-phone-calls/
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